Maddocks: GOP unsure what to do without Obama

Philip Maddocks

Friday

Jan 6, 2017 at 10:04 AMJan 7, 2017 at 7:32 PM

As the Republican-controlled Congress opened a turbulent new era in Washington on Tuesday, GOP lawmakers are hoping that President Obama might stay on and help them make as smooth a transition as possible to their new place of power.

“This is a big job that nothing in the world can prepare you for,” Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said of the daunting task facing the new Congress. “From everything I’ve heard us say about him, the president is the type of feckless, overreaching, imperial leader who could help show us the ropes.”

Even as Republicans were busy planning quick action on several of their top priorities - a measure to clear a path for the Affordable Care Act’s repeal, an ambitious push to rollback regulations, and a coveted opportunity to fill a long-vacant Supreme Court seat – it has become clear to the party leadership that without the president’s help the GOP has no chance at undoing his signature programs.

“Look, I talked to Ryan and I think he tweeted with Donald,” said Mr. McConnell, referring to House Speaker Paul Ryan and President-elect Donald Trump. “And it is obvious to all of us that we don’t have the first idea of what to do and what to replace. We’re just not going to get anything done without Obama’s help.”

Republican leaders in recent days have tossed around several ideas with their rank and file aimed at keeping Mr. Obama close at hand and in good spirits. They have offered to help the Obamas shop for a new home near the White House – just in case the first family needs to remain in D.C. past Jan. 20.

They are also toying with idea of seizing one of Mr. Trump’s golf courses and naming it for Mr. Obama, if that would keep the president close at hand until the leadership can figure out what to replace the Affordable Care Act with.

“I know we are asking a lot of the president, but look at all he got done when we were working against him,” said Mr. McConnell hopefully.

Republican leaders have been watching in awe as Mr. Obama has gone about his business in the last couple of months. Since Election Day he has named 103 people to senior Civil Service jobs, boards, key commissions and oversight panels, including the National Council on Disability, the Amtrak board of directors, the Holocaust Memorial Council and the boards of visitors at military academies. And he has pushed ahead with his goal of freeing nonviolent drug offenders from federal prisons, commuting the sentences of 232 federal inmates and pardoning 78 others in the last few weeks.

“What we’re saying to the president is you may think there is less than three weeks before the Obama White House is history, but work with us and maybe we can change that,” Mr. McConnell said.

This week the GOP leadership was largely silent on the president’s recent actions, including banning oil drilling off the Atlantic coast, establishing new environmental monuments, protecting funding for Planned Parenthood clinics, ordering the transfer of detainees from Guantánamo Bay, criticizing Israeli settlements and punishing Russia for interfering in the recent elections through cyberattacks.

“Right now, we’re in no position to lead,” Mr. McConnell said. “We would expect the president to continue to take actions he deems necessary until President-elect Trump was sworn in – and hopefully longer.”

Even with months to prepare for the GOP’s transition to power, a complex venture Mr. McConnell and Mr. Ryan had attempted to condense into a series of incendiary 140-character declarations, the Republicans are no closer than they were five years ago to articulating a clear and detailed vision for health care, education, and middle-class vitality.

“Before we mess this up any more than we already have, we could really use crash courses in the workings of the White House and federal agencies,” Mr. Ryan said. “I am sure we could talk Donald into staying in New York – at least for another couple of months, maybe a year – while the president helps Congress understand how to get things done.”

The two leaders acknowledged the transition won’t be easy. There is the crush of information to master, particularly when it comes to the Affordable Care Act’s 2,700 pages.

“Look, I will be the first to admit that I should have been paying more attention when the law was introduced,” Mr. Ryan said. “But the president has my full attention right now. And I hope I have his when I say that a third, even a fourth term wouldn’t be out of the question, if that’s what he wants.”

Philip Maddocks writes a weekly satirical column. He can be reached at pmaddocks@wickedlocal.com.